World Trade May Fall By Up To 1.5%: WTO

Global goods trade is expected to fall by anywhere between 0.2 and 1.5 per cent this year, depending how US President Donald Trump’s tariffs play out, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General, World Trade Organization (WTO), said Wednesday. She has further warned that with global output set to drop seven per cent if the two economic powerhouses decouple fully.

The WTO Director General has cautioned that ongoing trade war between the US and China would split the world into two trading blocs as countries are forced to choose to be with one side or the other.

“WTO really wants to avoid a case of geopolitical fragmentation,” she said.